Around 12 hours later, after she had convinced Senate leaders to change the bill to benefit her state and voted for the legislation, ensuring its passage, Murkowski said the last day had been “probably the most difficult and agonizing legislative 24-hour period that I have encountered.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski stared down a reporter in a tense exchange that quickly went viral on social media, after she had voted in favor of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy bill on July 1.

The fate of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda was in Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s hands — and she used that leverage to force a series of changes that will deliver more federal dollars to her state.